


The Convolution

by bluebellsandcocklesshells



Series: 642 Prompts [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 09:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebellsandcocklesshells/pseuds/bluebellsandcocklesshells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt 4 of 642: Tweet the plot of the original Star Wars</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Convolution

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 4 of 642: Tweet the plot of the original Star Wars

Castiel paused the game on his computer and heard complaints from his fellow questers in his headset that they were tired of him stopping and starting like he was a stick-shift noob.  He ignored them and leaned over to look at his cell phone.  He frowned when he saw it was just a Twitter notification.  He could have sworn he’d turned those off.  Or maybe he’d forgotten since he never got any notifications because he never tweeted and he only followed two minor celebrities.

Over the headset he could hear his friends screaming their heads off as they got overwhelmed without his aid.  They deserved it a little bit for always making him do the hard stuff (and spend the most money) anyway.  He tapped on his phone to open it.  He raised an eyebrow when he saw not only that someone had directly tweeted him, but at who it was as well.

Dean Winchester wasn’t exactly a friend.  He was someone he knew because they’d gone to school together all their lives, but they didn’t hang out.  The most time they’d spent together by the time they’d reached their senior year of high school was about a month ago when they’d had to work on a project together for class for a couple of weeks.  He didn’t even know Dean knew his Twitter handle.  Then again, Dean hadn’t tweeted only him.

_@moondoorqueen @vampirate69 @icouldbewatchingTV @MrFizzles @VicHenTorSon @DrBadass @CuteAndKnifey READ NEXT TWEET!_

Castiel raised an eyebrow.  Dean seemed to be tweeting all his friends, so why was Castiel on the list?  Had it been a mistake?  He waited to see if he sent another tweet, which would include him and prove it wasn’t a mistake, but nothing came through.  He returned to his game, but had a hard time concentrating because he kept glancing at his phone for a notification that didn’t appear to be coming.

Consumed by curiosity he grumbled and paused the game again—which resulted in his friends screaming that they were going to kick him out of the guild.  He opened the Twitter app to see if Dean had said anything else.  Sure enough he’d sent out a tweet that hadn’t been addressed to anyone in particular.

_AMC dwntwn come NOW Non-scruffy-looking hero has to save day b/c people w/ fancy powers/weapons can’t defeat dude in iron lung on their own_

Castiel could feel an expression on his face that was like a smile, but he was a little too perplexed to call it that.  His best guess was that Dean was asking people to meet him at the AMC movie theater in downtown Lawrence to watch a movie.  Though Castiel had no idea what movie that might be.  It didn’t sound like anything that was currently playing.

He looked at the time the tweet had been sent: less than ten minutes ago.  He could probably make it down there before whatever movie started.  But, he was still left wondering if he’d been included in the initial tweet by mistake.

In his headset his friends were coordinating an attack on the Putrid Castle.  They’d already failed several times and Castiel thought it was because they didn’t have the skill level or weapons to do it yet.  They probably also needed a real mage in their guild.  When he said as much over the headset he was booed and told that if he wanted a mage he could change his own character.  Castiel rolled his eyes.  He wasn’t in the mood for another guild fight.  He logged off and picked up the remote to his television.

After unsuccessfully channel surfing for a few minutes—and continually glancing at his phone—he decided that it couldn’t hurt to go downtown just to have something to do.  If he bumped into Dean and his friends he could pretend like it was an accident.  Or hide.  Mind made up, Castiel pulled on his shoes and asked his mother if he could take the car and go out.  She agreed as long as he was home before midnight.  Then Castiel was on his way—after running back upstairs and putting on more deodorant and a dab of cologne.

_And who are you putting cologne on for?_ Castiel asked himself as he got into his mother’s Camry.  Castiel ignored himself because sometimes that guy could be a smarmy dick.

~~~

“Come onnnn,” Charlie poked Dean’s side.  “We’re gonna get crap seats.”

“No we’re not,” Dean said.  “This wasn’t even advertised.  No one knows it’s playing.  We’ll be the only ones in there.”

“The reason it’s not advertised is so that too many people don’t show up,” Victor observed.

“That’s stupid,” Dean countered.  “They would want too many people to show up in the hopes that those that can’t get tickets would see something else instead.”

“Who are we waiting for?” Jo asked.  “We’re all here.”

Dean looked away so they couldn’t see his face.  “Uh…Ash isn’t here.”

“Ash is so high he probably won’t get that tweet until next week,” Benny pointed out.

“Yeah…”  Dean glanced at the time on his phone.  They would have to go in soon if they wanted time to stop by the concessions stand.  It had been a long shot anyway to get Castiel to show up; he checked Twitter even less often than Ash did.  But Dean couldn’t quite bring himself to text him directly.  That would be…too direct.  He could do it as a group text—then Castiel would be a lot more likely to see it.  He kicked himself for not thinking of that earlier.  Now if he did it his assembled friends would know something was up.

“Dude, seriously, Ash isn’t going to show,” Garth said, eyeing the popcorn machine across the lobby.

Dean scanned the lobby one last time.  Well, this was what he got for being a chicken he supposed.  He turned to follow his friends toward the ticket attendant, but glanced back over his shoulder.  He spotted him immediately.  Like he always did.  Like he always had since about the eighth grade.  His heart tripped over its next beat and he coughed on his hitched breath.

“G-guys wait,” he croaked.  He waved his hand wildly.  “Cas!”

“Cas?” Victor asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“As in Castiel Novak?” Jo added, scanning the crowd.

Dean could feel his friends’ eyes on the back of his head as he waited for Cas to glance around, making sure Dean had been talking to him, and then slowly and somewhat guardedly walked through the small crowd toward him.  Castiel stuck his hands in his pockets when he reached Dean and rocked a little nervously on his heels.

“Um, hi,” Castiel said, his voice even deeper with his confusion.

“Hey.  I’m glad you got the message.”

Castiel tilted his head to the side and Dean’s insides fluttered.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I got the message.  I assume you’re watching a movie, but I don’t know what.”

Dean’s jaw dropped.  “What?  That summary was clear and concise!”

“It was vague and inaccurate.”

“It was exactly what the movie is about.  And how would you know it’s inaccurate if you don’t know what it is?”

Castiel made that little side-smile he did that drove Dean up the wall with the need to make him laugh so that he would give a full smile.  Or kiss it.  Sometimes he just wanted to kiss it.

“Well, maybe I guessed.  But the hero is the one who goes on the hero’s journey.  Not some criminal who can’t tell the difference between a unit of distance and a unit of time.”

Charlie snorted just off to his left.  He shot her a glare and then stepped closer to Castiel.

“No one likes a ‘chosen one’ story, Cas.  It’s all about the underdog.  And just because George Lucas doesn’t know science doesn’t mean Han Solo isn’t a badass.

“’Chosen one special snowflakes’ are the basis of all hero stories.  Vest-wearing ‘cool’ guys are sidekicks at best.”

“I-I’ll kick _your_ side,” Dean spluttered.

Castiel tried to repress a smile and had to look away.

“You’re watching the movie wrong,” Dean said.

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Because people like you are always like, ‘Han shot first!’ and it’s this big thing.  But, that’s not very hero-like to shoot an unarmed man.  Alien.  Whatever.”

“Bad ass, Cas.  He’s a bad ass.  Not everyone can be a morally boring tool.”

“But one could argue that doing the ‘boring’ right thing is much harder than selfishly serving one’s own interests.”

“One could say that but one would be wrong.”

Castiel shook his head, but fortunately he was still smiling.

“Okay, while this conversation is just _fascinating_ ,” Jo interrupted.  “We seriously have to go or skip the concessions.”

Castiel’s face fell.  “Oh, I’m sorry I kept you.  Enjoy.”

He started to turn away and Dean shouted, “Wait!”

Several people nearby turned to see why he was yelling as well.

“Uh.  You should come with us.  See it with a new perspective.”

“I don’t want to intrude…”

“You won’t be.  I…I tweeted you,” he mumbled.

Castiel’s eyebrows rose slightly.  “Ah.”

“Come on, the lines are getting longer,” Garth, popcorn fiend, said anxiously.

Dean gave Castiel a smirk.  “Hey, I’ll even pay for your ticket, okay?  If I’m going to convince you who the real hero is, I need you to be open to it.”

Castiel watched him for a few moments and suddenly Dean felt like he was standing on stage in the school auditorium in his underwear.  His whole life depended on whether the crowd was going to cheer or laugh.

“You’re going to buy my ticket?” Cas asked.

“Yep.”

“Hmm…you know, I can’t watch a movie without snacks.”

Dean gave him a look.  “I’ll buy you snacks, Cas.”

“Really?  Popcorn and a soda?”

“Yep.”

“Junior Mints?”

“Those are gross, but yes.”

“Maybe an Icee instead of a soda…”

“Cas, I’ll buy you the whole stand including Jujubes.”

“Oh, I don’t want Jujubes.  Those are gross.  But, Sour Patch Kids…”

“Okay, okay.  Let’s go.”

Dean hurried over to the electronic ticket kiosk and bought another ticket.  He’d deliberately waited until his other friends had purchased seats so that he could get one on the end—leaving the seat next to him open.  He selected the seat next to his for Castiel and tried to get his heart to slow down a bit.

Once the ticket printed they all passed by the ticket attendant and spread out along the concession counter to see which line was moving fastest.  After listening to Castiel change his mind about what he wanted five times, Dean kicked him out of line and told him he’d just have to be happy with what he got.  Castiel smiled at him in amusement, but obediently followed Dean’s orders to wait by the fake butter station.  Once he was out of earshot, Charlie nudged Dean.

“Hey, Dean my Bean.”

Dean gave her a look.  “What did you call me?”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying crushing on your crush…”

Dean blushed and faced forward.  He couldn’t even deny it because Charlie was the one person to whom he’d admitted that he was still pining hard for his middle school crush.  Working together on a project a few weeks back was what had convinced Dean that the attraction might not be completely one sided.

“But…I don’t know.  I mean, ordinarily I’d say Castiel is a great guy, I thought he was, but he kind of just tricked you into taking him on a date and paying for it.”

“Hmm,” Dean hummed and placed his order with the sixteen year old behind the counter.  While they waited for the large order to be filled he turned to look at her.

“I appreciate you looking out for me, Charlie.  But, uh, are you so sure that Cas is the one who did the tricking?”

“I…”  Charlie looked at him and then glanced at Castiel who was trying hard to look like he wasn’t staring at Dean.  She turned back to Dean with a sigh.

“That is so convoluted, Dean.  Why are boys so stupid?  You could have just asked him out on a date like a normal person.”

“What does a lesbian know about asking guys out on dates?” Dean sniffed and turned to accept the large bucket of popcorn and massive Coke Icee.  “Get the candy, would ya?”

“Well, I know boys are stupid, so I guess they have to ask people out in stupid ways.”

“You’re just mad because I got the balls to ask Cas out before you could work up the nerve to ask out Gilda.”

“Doesn’t count if he doesn’t know it’s a date!” she whispered quickly as they got close to Castiel.

Their other friends joined them and Garth began to pump fake butter onto his popcorn.  Dean decided to find out if the audience was cheering or laughing.

“Hey, Cas, you know that if I’m dropping this much coin on a ticket and gross candy—this is a date, right?”

His other friends turned to look at them.  Garth was even looking and had to slow down his butter pumping.  Castiel’s eyes widened slightly—his only concession to his surprise.  Then he nodded.

“I should hope so,” he said softly.  “I can’t imagine agreeing to watch an awful movie if I didn’t think I wouldn’t get lucky afterwards.”

Jo and Charlie giggle-snorted.  Garth aww-ed softly and Benny nodded his head in approval at the flirtation.  Victor made a face.

“Oh, come onnnn!” he groaned.  “Can we go before the music swells and the rain starts to fall?”

The group began to head for their theater and Castiel took the Icee from Dean to free up his hand so that he could hold it.  All Dean could do was face forward and hope that his head wouldn’t explode.  He peripherally felt Charlie nudge him again.

“You’re already so whipped!” she whispered with a laugh.

“What?”

“He totally insulted your favorite movie and you’re all smiley.”

Dean looked at Charlie, offense finally registering.  He turned to give his date a piece of his mind…Then Castiel smiled at him.  Dean smiled back.  He glanced at Charlie and shrugged a shoulder.

“It’s not like it’s my _favorite_ favorite.”

Charlie laughed.  “Watching the two of you is going to be better than any movie.”


End file.
